19 Jun 2013

The Truth About Americans

BEFORE I came to America, I might have thought that Americans are:
1. Lazy, couch potatoes, TV addicted people
2. Barbaric war lovers, gun mongering creatures, violence addicts
3. Crazy about sports (They always win the olympics!) especially the game “football” (which is only about less than 7% they played the ball with their feet)
4. Racist, intolerant, they hate Muslims, labeling us terrorists
5. Very discriminant, they hate strangers, they will bully someone from some random country like Indonesia
6. Close minded, hateful, pessimistic people, stupid and unknowledgeable
7. Selfish individualistic people let their neighbors die in starvation, only care about themselves
8. No ethics, religion or anything, hedonistic lifestyle and all about alcohol sex and drugs
9. Too proud of themselves, other nations are viewed as low class human being
10. They might be big coffee drinkers and fulltime gum chewers
AFTER I came to America, this is the truth of what I see about Americans:
1. Hard working, “make it happen” type of people. But still addicted to TV though (and internet, Netflix, instagram etc. You name it)
2. Peace lovers, they absolutely HATE wars. They support their veterans like superheroes. They don’t want wars (please differ American people from American government. The government is another different thing)
3. OBSESSED about sports! (And that’s why they always win the Olympics!) Works out so much.
4. Commonly very tolerant, racial comment or stereotyping is strongly opposed by the society. (And they don’t hate Muslims; they will try to provide Muslims place for prayer if we ask. Very respectful)
5. Very, very open to strangers, they will smile and will be very friendly to you. You can meet a stranger and talk for hours then you will be close friends. Really. (And they won’t laugh at you if your grammar or your English is a mess; they understand and will help you. I guess even people in my country are the more harsher critics of other people’s English)
6. Open minded, accepting difference, very smart and good in giving opinions, talking, and arguing yet they will be tactful in debates on your position (nothing will be taken personal, most of the time).
7. Very caring, often they put other people first. They will help with the best that they can do, anytime. They do it willing fully, with their heart (or in Indonesian we usually say “tulus/ikhlas”)
8. Ethical and religious people. The society encourages people to have strong moral values and virtues. Very strong common sense. Will try to combat problems of society together. They will defend their values and virtues.
9. Proud of themselves as a nation, proud about their history. They respect their history a lot (they even turned a Civil War battlefield, Gettysburg, into some sort of a vacation place). They see their country as a great country, while they see other nations (especially Third World) as a nation they are willing to help to develop.
10. They ARE big coffee drinkers and fulltime gum chewers
America is not a nation united by race, but America is a nation united by ideals, by a vision to attain hope, freedom, peace and opportunity to everyone. America is a nation full of spirit, and the national goal is to achieve their dream, in the notion that everybody in America can be anything they want if they work hard to accomplish it. America is a great nation; an idea proved to be successful after hundreds of year and influenced the rest of the world to create a place full of opportunities.
And that’s why I love America.

4 Jun 2013

March in the Plains

In the pursuit of perfection, humanity will face challenges, mostly those that burden them more than what they can bear. It will take them realization of what necessary. War will explode inclusively inside their very own minds. And yet they still have to go forward.

Sometimes we will face those time when we have to march in the deathly plains. Nothing is on the horizon. But our feet are going and going, moving and moving. Nobody can stop the movement of the march this time. Almost perfect and solid, the lines will strike through the empty plains, to an uncertained destination. The voyage is abstract and seemed inconclusive.

We sometimes stand along, alone and fighting. We are the subject of their gossips. Our flaws will be memorized and constantly recounted like how they tell the old stories of humanity. Our mistakes and imperfection can sometime be the main menu of the feast. Word will be spread and we will no longer have much control over what we want people to know.

They said we don't care. They said we did things too radically, striking a resemblance of ridiculousness. We do things without fear, we do it because we simply know it is right, it is what we have to do. We don't care, because we are not afraid of the constant pressure of the infected parts of the society. We don't care because we are driven to do things based on the values and virtues, we don't care because we need to do it. We don't care because actually we care.

We felt the bitterness of defeat and failure. We felt the point of desperation, the plains being wider and almost impossibly empty. We cried until our tears are dry, until our knees are torn and until our hands are wet. We fell, we lay down and hopelessly stopped our march. We thought at that time that this is over, this is the end. We shall die like those skeletons laying beside us, peaceful and empty. Those skulls bear the widest smile, and the shiniest, brightest, solid face a man can have. We reached at the point where we thought, "This is it, I will be this".

And then that happens. The moment when we saw something in the horizon. Not a light, yet, nor a help. But something. Looking small but big at the same time, we rose and we looked at it carefully. Then we realized something.

This march has a destination.

We might have marched through the empty plains, dead horizon, without any knowledge on what is our destination. Then we saw it. We have the force, the power to conquer this empty plains, to go forward no matter what. But we rarely chose to. We rarely chose to go forward, being said what we do is only thinking of going forward. We never really do it, but we have the power, the control over ourselves. 

It is the time for us to chose, to go. We might have fallen into the rough grounds, but we can heal. We can keep going, we can rise, we can straighten up again and go. We still have this, we still have the long, long way on the plains. We still are standing on the great plains, out-scaled us to the millions. We still have it, and we can go. We can.

This is a march in the plains, this is a life in a time. This is a march toward a spot on the endless horizon, and we will go on. This is our march. And this is hope.

-June 4th, Phoenix, Arizona